Another year, another Game Awards trailer that has people on Reddit outraged. This time yes Borderlands 4a game that has the unenviable task of surpassing both the phenomenal second installment in the series and the very mixed response to Borderland 3. No, I won’t discuss the movie here, I erased my memories of it with a Neuralyzer I borrowed from Will Smith.
We already knew the fourth one Borderlands title was on the way thanks to a CGI trailer that dropped in August, but this up-to-date trailer gave us both some actual in-engine gameplay footage (which, unsurprisingly, looks similar to the third game) and our first look at the four up-to-date titles of the Vault Hunters playable game. And boy, some Redditors certainly aren’t elated with them.
The main concern from reading several long chains of comments about these up-to-date heroes is that they are just a bit generic. “None of them have as much personality in their design as anything in any game except Wonderlands,” says user u/SmileJakoby, referring to the (fairly mediocre) spin-off title Little Tina’s Wonderland. Another user, u/k_afka_, says, “These treasure hunters seem a little bland to me, but I hope they’re more interesting than they seem.”
I understand, I understand. These four up-to-date heroes do not evoke emotions in me solely because of their appearance. But the thing is: Borderlands in fact, he’s never been good at creating truly iconic player character designs.
The up-to-date Vault Hunters are cut from the same cloth as the elderly ones
I’m solemn: Borderlands games may feature visually striking characters here and there, but what makes most of the unusual characters you meet on Pandora and beyond engaging is their stellar voice acting and extraordinary abilities.
Let’s look at earlier Vault Hunters, for example. Take a look at these four here:
Mordechai from the original game is just a skinny guy with a goatee, a sword, and a tight outfit. What made him engaging and likable was his extremely livid bird, reserved, offbeat humor, and the additional characterization he received in the sequel as a cordial NPC. The same goes for Roland, who was simply an “ex-soldier” in the first game before being given a major role in the narrative Borderland 2. Hell, Brick – who I love – is literally a massive, muscled man in a T-shirt at first glance. Not exactly a world-shaking character design, Gearbox.
Sure, we’ve got some fun ones: the playable Mermaids Lilith, Maya, and Amara all look pretty engaging, though again, it’s their magical abilities that make them stand out from an aesthetic standpoint. I also can’t ignore Zer0 and his nippy holographic mask, although what really sticks in my mind is his deadpan dialogue exclusively in haiku.
The thing is, the world Borderlands is full of characters who, in a less brutal and unbalanced universe, could probably be quite ordinary people. That’s part of the appeal: you don’t play as the Chosen One, you’re just a random treasure hunter who gets dragged into a world-saving adventure wearing whatever raggedy clothes you put on that morning.
That’s why I’m asking you, dissatisfied Redditors: give these newcomers a chance. Sure, we have the same elderly stereotypes – nippy guy, muscular guy, tech girl, magical girl – but let’s at least see what nippy ways they have to murder people before we judge them, right?
